Failure to Comply
by Robert A. Wageman
Summary: After a traumatized and battle worn Tails' soon to be girlfriend is kidnapped, he is forced to turn on his own government, but his story brings him to twist of fate much bigger then his own problems
1. Prologue

Prologue

A silver sports car come speeding down the road, its speed increasing at an incredible rate. The speedometer reads, _120… 135… 150… 165… 180_. The sports car takes a few hard turns, to the left and to the right. Lucky how few people inhabit the area, its not every night this happens.

A yellow fox wearing a short sleeved leather vest with a white undershirt, blue denim pants with a hole for two unusual tails and brown casual shoes was behind the wheel. His driver's license lay upon the leather passenger seat, it read _Prower, Miles. _The yellow – orange fox reaches for the glove department which spawned the Aston Martin logo with the letters DBS hanging below it. Miles pulls out a 1911A1 pistol and switches off the safety.

With an intense look of anger and seriousness plastered upon his face the speedometer reaches 220. Another hard turn taken, the left wheels rise half an inch from the road and touches back down. 225. The avenue begins to straighten itself out, allowing the fox to gain speed. 240. The two-tailed fox realizes his great speed, but grunts and pushes the pedal even closer to the floor. The car goes up a small hill then leads to a sudden depression; this causes the car to rise about eight inches into the air. 245. The engine in midair simply moves too fast due to the weightlessness of the car in the air. The rubber on this tires slap down on top of the pavement in their rightful place once again. 250. Prower sees the red lights of a car speeding at a slightly lower speed, then he grins to himself in self-satisfaction.

Out in the distance the twin red lights stop. This confused the two tailed fox, he suspected something sinister, and slowed his speed from 250 to 220. The red orbs in the distance take off once again, capturing Prowers interest. Not caring he smashes down on the accelerator once again.

"Don't worry Amy, I'll get you back," he said to himself with a tear rolling down his face. Worrying about what they had done to her when Miles had witnessed her kidnapping about 15 minutes prior.

The car hit another hard turn and suddenly everything became rough, not anything like the smooth ride the fox was used too. Suddenly his tires gave out and blew rubber in every direction. Spikes! Miles had realized that's why they stopped, to lay these damn things on the road. He slammed his brakes, at the same time about forty meters in front of him, he noticed a pink hedgehog bound and struggling on the road.

Instead of simply stopping and slowing in a straight line as Prower had expected to, he firmed his grasp on the wheel and jerked it violently to the right, he missed her and surprisingly didn't flip. He then noticed a brick wall lining the right side of the road and swerved left. The car gave and flipped on its side and began to slide a bit. The front got caught on a loose brick from the wall on the road and the back end lifted up. Once the back end had flown up the front followed. The car was completely airborne. It once again landed on its side, front and back facing the sides of the road and began to roll. The Aston Martin turned slightly and rolled off the road into a three meter ditch where it completed its last barrel roll and settled upright.

Amy Rose, the pink hedgehog bound on the road, after seeing the accident became worried. With the massive amounts of adrenaline pumping throughout her body, she summoned the strength to slip past the ropes and remove the gag stuffed close to her throat. She rushes to the side of the road screaming "Tails!" Fearing the worst, Amy jumps off the road into the ditch and opens the door. Tails' mangled body falls out of the wreckage with ripped clothes and soaked in blood.

The pink hedgehog scrambles to organize her thoughts. After a few seconds she managed to contain herself and calm down enough to check his pulse. Alive. She was relieved, but how much did his small body take.

Tails struggles to open his eyes and succeeds. Amy was relieved even further. The furry little fox struggles to move or talk, but realizes he can't do a damn thing. He manages to move his hand a bit, enough to signal Amy for something to write with. She pulls a pencil out from her back pocket, then salvages the wreckage for a peace of paper, she ends up pulling a receipt out of Tails' wallet.

Tails barely manages to grasp the pencil and begins to write on the mangled receipt, damaged from years in his back pocket. He attempts to write, _My XM8 is in the trunk, they may come back._ He signals to Amy that he completed his message. She slowly grabs the paper only to see nothing, but random lines and squiggle marks.

"You must of hit your head pretty hard," She said, "I think you may have temporarily lost your motor functions and co-ordination, I'll try and get an ambulance.

No you divot! Tails thinks to himself as the hedgehog rushes out onto road to signal for help. She doesn't realize the danger she's in, how could she be so stupid?

The adrenaline still pumping through Amy's heart begins to over react. She began to see stars as she slowly lost her strength. She began stumbling, losing her balance and eventually passed out. Must be too much stress, Tails thought to himself. He slowly fell asleep, he struggled to stay awake, but he couldn't. Slowly he drifted off…


	2. Back to Reality

**Chapter 1: Back to Reality**

Tails had opened his eyes in a sense of urgency. Sonic the Hedgehog was standing over him yelling, "Come on, and get up!"

"Wait, sonic?" asked Tails, "This can't be you're dead!"

"What are you talking about?" Sonic replied.

"You died eight years ago, in the nuclear power plant." He said.

"We will only if you don't hurry the fuck up!" the hedgehog replied.

Tails, in his confusion decided to follow the blue blur anyway. Sonic sped into the power plant nearby. The fox was confused even further and noticed a sense of déjà vu. He chased in after him only to find the employees in disarray and panic. Alarms were blaring away at a deafening volume and the rooms flashed red.

The employees frantically poured out of the doorways all at once. Many of them pushed down and trampled to death. Tails, now panicking, rushed in through a doorway to avoid the stampede. He glanced at the door, it was labeled _Safety Supervision Center. _By instinct, Miles turned around to the control panel. With his superior intellect of technology he made instant sense of the meters and dials. The nuclear reactor was melting down…

He rushed out the room to escape from the overheating power plant. He then realized Sonic was still trying to save technicians that were pinned down from fallen equipment.

When Tails had scrambled to get back inside the first thing he noticed was a calendar that had fallen off its wall. It read May 16th, 1999. Tails couldn't make sense of this, it's 2007 for fuck's sake, he thought to himself. It didn't matter, Sonic was probably in danger and he had to save him. He felt another sense of déjà vu. Ignoring this he continued on, checking through each in every room. He couldn't find a thing, not even the screaming of an employee, they had probably all evacuated.

The plant began to tremble and shake, the two-tailed fox new it was about to blow. He picked up his short little legs and rushed them as fast as he could. He cleared the power plant, but the adrenaline rush kept him going and going and eventually forgot about Sonic. Then it blew, the reactor core melted down completely and it let loose. Just as this happened, Tails noticed a blue hedgehog just making it out the west entrance. From the distance all he could do was watch as the reactor collapsed and his best friend incinerated in a mini nuclear explosion.

Miles felt himself fall to ground on all fours. Tears of grief slowly generated in his blue eyes and his bangs drooped low. He never thought he could possibly leave his best friend behind like that.

"I killed Sonic the Hedgehog…" he said to himself. "I killed Sonic" he repeated. He continued to say it over and over again, louder until he screamed it. He punched the ground. A pain longed in his arm, it was just a simple punch and yet it hurt so badly. It wouldn't stop.

Everything flashed, everything went white and blurry and all of a sudden he was lying on his back. He heard a strange beeping to his left. With the little strength he could salvage he managed to get his head to tilt in that direction. He noticed a green line, with bumps; this was the source of the beeping. His vision cleared slightly, he then noticed a cast on his right arm; the one he had used to punch the ground.

He understood everything now; he went unconscious and simply had a dream, a dream that brought back his saddest memory. The day Sonic the Hedgehog was killed. Now his vision was just about as clear as it once was, but he noticed something different. His right peripheral vision wasn't working. He summoned his left hand towards his face and touched his right eye, or what used to be his right eye anyway. And felt his eyelid and six stitches in between them. When he touched it, it seemed to cave it. Finally his conscious mind was able to render the fact that nothing was there anymore.

Trying to take in all of this he started shuffling through his thoughts. Right away he new he was forgetting something. What was it? He went through his thoughts, trying to recollect his memories of the crash. Time and time again he came close to the edge of his memory, then lost track. He then remembered signaling for a pencil, and writing a message, but what for? He then remembered a pink hedgehog, the one he called a divot in his memories.

"Oh," said a female in a white coat, "good to see you awake. Your body took a lot of damage during that crash, but don't worry. We stabilized you hours ago."

Miles finally got his memory at the right second and said, "Is Amy here? Is she alright?"

"Who's Amy?" replied the nurse.

"The pink hedgehog"

"No reports of a pink hedgehog, I'll go get you some painkillers."

The nurse left the room. Tails began to think, what happened to Amy? Was she captured? Did she leave? While all these thoughts raced through his mind the nurse walked in through the doorway. "That was fast," said Tails.

"Actually before I got to the medications department a note was handed to me, for you." replied the Nurse.

"For me?" said Tails. He took the note and read it. It read:

_Tell your friends at the APA not to mess with us ever again, or we'll do to them what we might to your girlfriend. That is if you do as we tell you to. One of our men will be sent to visit you sometime today, and you better listen to him_

_The Pen Pusher _

Tails' jaw dropped as he looked straight forward, and at the same time slowly crumpling the message. This was all because of the result of Sonic's death.

When Sonic died Tails had realized how defenseless he was and how easily his life could be taken by another. Once he realized this he hit the gym. He became stronger than ever. His strength was about seventy-five percent of Knuckles, which was pretty damn strong. Once he had accomplished that he trained in hand-to-hand combat, learned the basic techniques and moved on.

Once he was much more advanced than even his trainer, he began training lessons with two of the best. Chuck Norris and his son Aaron. Eventually his skill nearly equaled theirs, but that wasn't enough for him.

He took up weapons, knife handling, advanced pistol training and basic rifle handling. He learned from the best, Sonic's brother, Target. Target was a true expert; if Sonic ran past him he could easily time the bullet and put it in his heart if he was willing too. Even in a distance of three football fields, he could aim a pistol in the air at the right angle and manage the bullet into the center of his target. Tails and Target got along great, they became better friends than with Sonic.

Once he mastered these techniques the American Protective Agency (APA) took quick notice, a government agency to secretive even the president barely knew anything about it. Quickly he was recruited, and his skills advanced even further.

Also during the time Tails trained himself in self-defense and after Sonic died, Amy and he began to hang out a lot more. Tails found her smart, charming, and cute. What if?

When the ADA noticed how well Tails and Amy could work together, she was quickly offered a position as well. And just like Tails she mastered everything, but she was still afraid to kill, Tails was a different story. Sonic's death hardened him, he was no longer afraid to fight, get hurt, or kill under the right circumstances.

After Tails had shuffled through his memories he got up from his bed. Luckily his legs weren't damaged in the accident. "Sir! You can't do that," said the nurse.

"I have something important to attend to," replied Tails. He then remembered, he had to wait for his "visitor". "On second though miss, I'll reconsider".

He went back to his hospital bed and lay down. He waited for hours and hours, on the edge of boredom and then the nurse came walking in. "You have a visitor".

"Thank you," replied Tails.

A strange man wearing a business suit and top hat came walking in; he looked rich and had a very stern look. He had a diamond embroidered cane and moved in such a way to show it off. He pulled up a chair and signaled the nurse to leave. He sat down.

"Hello Mr. Prower" said the man. "I have some information you may want hear."

"First I want to know if Amy is still alive," questioned Tails.

Amy then walked into the room with an incredibly large man behind her with metal teeth, a bulging forehead and his arm around the back of Amy's neck.

"Amy!" said Tails.

"Now onto the subject," said the business man, "I want you to assassinate these two certain men for us," he pulled out a picture of two black men, big and strong looking as well. "They've been causing our organization some trouble for quite some time, and we believe you and your girlfriend can pull it off."

"Wait, your letting her go?" Tails replied, "I thought you were gonna give her back to me afterwards."

"Is that the way you want it? Fine, I suppose we'll keep her for now." He said. The metal jawed man began to squeeze the back of Amy's neck and she squealed.

"Ok! Fine! Stop it! I'll listen"

"Excellent" he said, "When your arm heals we'll be back."

The strange man and the large one both left the room. How did they know I was with APA? Tails thought to himself. Maybe he realized it when I stole his money in that Casino to cripple his terrorist funding activities. Either way, the fox knew he was in deep shit.

All he could do is rest his busted body, for the next six weeks. After that, hell would begin…


	3. Paranoia

**Chapter 2: Paranoia **

Six weeks have passed since he received that note, and chances are headquarters didn't know about Amy's kidnapping. Tails knew his real feelings for her and didn't deny them either, but he still doesn't have the nerve to tell her. He should be telling headquarters about this, but he's willing to become an enemy of the state if that's what it takes to get her back.

The fox was sitting on his couch watching TV. "Wow, this is just crap," he said as he flipped the channel past Fox, which was showing Family Guy. Ninety-nine percent of TV was pure chicken shit in Tails' mind. Focusing on irrelevant subjects, he's drifted off from his real objective. He knew it would be a matter of days, hours or minutes when he would receive a call or some guy would come to his door. He and Amy were still completely at the man's mercy.

Miles knew who the man worked for, well sort of. He goes by the name of Mr. White. Tails was sent to the hotel in which Mr. White was staying in to compromise his funds, apparently they figured him out, and in return they took Amy and got him in that crash.

He was sitting on his couch still adjusting to the eye patch and empty eye socket and the multiple concussions on the right side of his head due to careless side-stepping. His limited peripheral vision was something he couldn't get used to, but that was his life now and he had to accept it. Occasionally, he would lay awake at night thinking about what they might be doing to Amy.

While he was immersed in his thoughts the doorbell rang. Immediately he knew it must be one of Mr. White's henchmen. Wearing similar clothes to the ones he wore on the day of the accident he answered the door. Once he had opened the door there was no one to be seen, then he noticed a UPS truck start to take off. So he looked down and picked up the package they had left behind. Miles cautiously walked over to his olive green love seat and propped himself down.

He picked up the combat knife he usually carried due to paranoia brought on by his career, an environmental working hazard. Carefully, he cut away the tape which bonded the cardboard flaps. With the tape fully separated he sluggishly opened up the package. There was a digital voice recorder lying in bubble wrap.

He pulled it out from the box slowly, and then checked to ensure it wasn't rigged with any bugs or miniature explosives. He opened up the tape compartment and checked the tape and its ribbon to confirm its safety. He then hooked it up to his stereo so he could listen from a safe distance in case anything had happened.

The message played:

_Hello Miles, I'm quite sure you know who this is and I'm not going to bore you with any details. At precisely 3:00am on September 26th of this year in 2007 of course; we want you to meet us at the intersection of Fletcher Dr. and San Fernando Rd. _

_Dispose of this tape immediately, we will check your garbage bins to make sure you have._

Tails looked at the calendar, than at his watch, 4:55pm on September 24th, 2007. This gave him enough time to prepare for his approach and arm himself in case things turned ugly, and the chances were pretty good. If the APA discovered he was at all associated with Mr. White he would either be jailed and Amy's existence would be denied, or he maybe considered a double-agent and a primary target.

Quickly he walked back to the stereo and pulled out the tape and the tape recorder. Just as instructed he disposed of it.

So, I'm just about to expose my feelings for her, and she gets kidnapped. Fucking great, he thought to himself.

Tails was still unsure whether Amy was alive or not, but it was a chance he would have to take. The stress was really getting to him and he needed to clear his head, so he walked through the hallway and stepped into the garage. He walked up to an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, which he bought himself after the accident. With of course some customizations from the APA due to the fact it was people like him that would be more likely to be on a hit list.

He never did get to take a look at what APA had given to him. So he pulled out of his driveway and took it slowly until he reached the country road. Already calmed down a bit he floored it to test its real power. He reached towards the glove department, which had a strange button that wasn't in his previous DBS. So out of his curiosity he pressed it, and instead of the compartment flopping out like it would in all cars a tray slid out. In it from left to right was a 1911A1 pistol, a defibrillator, a pen with a hidden camera and an unusual looking kind of card. After observing he pushed the tray in and once again focused on the road.

He pulled over and noticed even more unfamiliar objects. He noticed a button that seemed a bit out of place, he pushed it. Out from the center console slid out a tray with more controls. Miles pushed one that said "Frontal Machine Gun", and a strange sound was made, like an electronic whirring. Then a button on the right of the leather steering wheel began to flash red. Before Tails did anything he looked around to make sure no one was around, once he confirmed the emptiness of the area he pressed it and out came .50 caliber bullets from the front grill.

He stepped out from the car to inspect the front. There were to barrels sticking out of the grill that were obscured behind turning lights before he had pushed anything. Afraid to do anything else he retracted the machine guns and control panel. He turned around and went home.

Once he stepped in the door he took a good look at his watch. 10:17pm. Wow, I've been out for awhile, how far did I go? He asked himself. Hmm… only 10:17pm, screw it I'm going to bed.

Tails awoke the next morning to his alarm clock, it was set to 8:00am, but it didn't wake him until 8:21am. He was just a heavy sleeper like that. He got out of bed and walked to his dresser and pulled out a blue buttoned shirt to wear over a white t-shirt, then over to his closet to get some olive green baggy cargo pants, and brown casual shoes.

He then walked over to a walnut chest in the corner of his room and knelt down to open it. Just below the cover was a metal door with an electronic keypad. He typed in the numbers 07231986, his birth date. The system beeped and an electronic whirring sounded, the metal door slowly opened itself. In it was a small armory: a yet to be assembled M8, an MP5, two 1911A1 pistols, four silencers, each designed for each of his separate weapons, a small case of miniature explosives and two packets of C4.

If he was going to arm himself and get ready for the day that lies ahead, now would be the time. He picked up a dual gun holster and holstered each pistol. Then he slung a rifle holster on his back and slid the MP5 easily into it and a silencer in next to it. He then put on what he liked to call "a battle belt" which he fitted four pistol clips and three extra MP5 cartridges. He also slid a pack of C4 on the back of his belt. He then pulled his blue buttoned shirt over it to make sure it couldn't be seen. He was ready.

It was only 11:00am in the morning, but the intersection of Fletcher and San Fernando was in Los Angeles, and Tails lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico and at normal speeds would take up to thirteen hours. Chances are he would arrive at midnight, so this was his chance to go.

Tails stepped into his garage and up to his Aston Martin Vantage. He inserted the keys into the ignition and fired up the engine, the car was in his driveway and his home was out in the country so he was able to floor it right away. The sports coupe quickly took off and reached sixty in 3.7 seconds. It fired down the country road, this time from personal experience Miles would be more cautious.

He took the road to route I-10 West then slowed to normal speeds, around seventy. His cell phone rang and he picked up.

"Prower," answered Tails.

"This is H of APA," said the man.

Tails quickly took a sense of shock, he didn't know what to say. He told the man he was busy, but apparently there was something urgent, have they figured him out? He thought to himself.


	4. Adrenaline

**Chapter 3 – Adrenaline**

Miles couldn't find the right words, he trembled and he began drifting in to the lane beside him. "H?" asked Tails.

"Yes," the man confirmed. "We have something to discuss." By now Tails had nearly slipped into unconsciousness from the stress. He knew this would happen, he knew APA would eventually figure him out.

"We have an assignment for you," said H.

A great wave of relief flowed through Tails' body; he was off the hook, but wait a minute… an assignment? Is it urgent? Might it be a mandatory distraction? How would it affect his meeting with Mr. White? Miles had no choice but to listen to what H had to say.

"Before I say anything switch to a secure line." Said H.

"Connect to," Prower separated the cell phone from his face to examine the display screen on it, then pressed it back against his orange ears, "channel four." H and he switched to the specified channel.

"Now to the subject, we have intercepted a call between Mr. White and a man he called 'sir'," informed H.

Oh, shit. They heard that call? Miles thought. It doesn't seem like the suspect me, I'll just play along for now.

"Mr. White will be meeting this 'sir' at precisely 3:00am, that's only a few hours from now."

"And? What do you want me to do about it?"

"Take out the man who wishes to converse with Mr. White and take Mr. White back here for questioning." replied the old man.

"You know, I think I still need to recover." said Tails.

"We have your medical records right here, it says you're in perfect health."

"I see, I'll get right on it then."

"Good, as per standard operating procedure, this channel will now be terminated" said H.

Rather than hearing a phone clacking against its cradle and then a dial tone, static took its place.

Damn it, seven hours and I'm already wanted. He thought. Tails just simply jammed down the accelerator, he was behind schedule and was just past Phoenix and going through Douglas, AZ, a small town just off Flagstaff.

This means he was behind schedule, way behind, mostly due to the heavy traffic on the 10, westbound of course. Not much was happening, it was just a simple road trip if the threat and Amy's kidnapping was disregarded of course. Once again his right eye twitched and his eyelid caved in and the usual throbbing of pain took place within his socket.

The phone rang once again. Miles grew suspicious of this, H never called twice at one setting, let alone his only secure line was terminated. Tails picked up the phone and answered, "Prower."

"Sir, this is Mr. White," he paused, "There has been a change of plans."

"What the hell do you mean? I thought we agreed on Fletcher and San Fernando.", asked Tails.

"It appears our line was tapped, and the APA is on to us. Chances are they're sending an agent after us, and we need an insurance policy. Switch to a secure line."

"It's been terminated, just tell me where and I can delete or prevent any recordings."

"The base of the Hoover Dam," commanded White.

"How the hell do I get there?"

"You're creative, you can find a way," the phone clacked and the dial tone had sounded.

Tails pulled over into the shoulder lane to pull out a map. He pulled a highlighter from underneath the seat and drew out an alternate route to Hoover Dam. There, he had worked out a way to get there, but how would he get to the base? It doesn't matter; he now had five and a half hours to work this out.

After stowing the map away he quickly reached for the door, opened it then left the drivers seat of the vehicle. His heart, full of adrenaline, caused him to slightly stagger to the rear of the DB7. He held the ignition key in his hand and stuck it into the keyhole on the trunk. Once he turned the key a glass tray slid out from underneath it, leaving the key in, he slipped off his glove and flattened his thumb against it. It beeped, five seconds passed and the trunk popped open. There was another compartment at the bottom of the trunk, he pulled out yet another key and once again popped it open.

In it was a briefcase which he took out and opened, surprisingly with no security walkthroughs. He looked through it, no efficient equipment, nothing to get him to the base of the Hoover Dam, at least not without a fight. This was going to be complicated, he thought to himself.

In frustration, Tails closed up all the compartments and securely sealed them off. He turned around and saw a car of some type miles over the horizon. He didn't know if this was just his mind pretending he had both eyes. It came closer and closer, then clearer. The heat waves began to dissipate and it was completely clear, an SUV, probably Chevrolet.

A man stuck the top half of his body out the window as it began to pass by. Tails just stared. The strange man threw something at the fox, but before he could react he was pelted in the face by something large and knocked to the ground. The SUV continued on its route and slowly disappeared miles away.

Tails got up and looked down at the ground and picked up the item, a bundled up bungee rope… clever.


	5. Restricted in Memory

**Chapter 4 – Restricted in Memory**

Forty-one days since the crash, and forty-one days in captivity. Amy awoke on the crappy bed and rusty bed frame she woke up on, every morning. She hasn't moved an inch since she was captured due to the fact that each of her limbs are bound to each of the four posts on the head and foot boards, and on her mouth was a leather muzzle because all she did the first day was bitch, on and on.

To feed her and keep her alive they would briefly remove the muzzle and simply give her meager amounts of nutrition, but it was enough to survive.

She had heard some of the conversations over the phone from the other room. Tails was coming tomorrow, and to her at the moment would be a godsend. The man she loves, her savior and her ticket out of this hellhole. She had not seen him since the crash and had no idea how extensive the damage was upon Tails' fragile little body. She began to replay the events leading up to the crash in her head.

Amy and Tails had just been assigned to the mission; they were placed on an electric train on its way to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro.

"So you will be playing Mr. White's treasurer in an attempt to cripple their funds," stated Amy.

"I still haven't heard what game he's playing," Said Tails.

"Poker," replied Amy.

"Haven't played that in years."

"Well, you better refresh your memory, because you're the best in the service."

"And what will you be doing," he asked.

"I will be keeping an eye on our governments money, but if you lose America will have directly financed terrorism." She answered.

"I see you've taken quite a notice on things."

"Oh, shut up" chuckled Amy.

Later that night, in the casino, Tails spotted a man who seemed to fit the description given to him during briefing: About six feet tall, middle weight, slicked back hair, one brown eye, one grey, possibly blind in that eye, he also had a large brow bone which contributed to the fact that the description mentioned the word "Russian".

Tails sat down, directly in front of him at the baccarat table, the game was about to begin. The position directly across from your main opponent was always the most strategic one there is, it would allow eye contact which could easily make for a good bluff. They both pulled out plaques and chips, Tails' equaling around eighty million and the man's around forty. It was obvious, the man's funds were already crippling and this was his last chance to redeem himself.

Tails politely introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Miles Prower. I hope you would be a good competition." He held out his right hand firmly to shake the man's hand.

"My name is Le Chiffre, it's a pleasure to meet you," Le Chiffre returned the courtesy and shook Tails' hand. "I hope you're up to the challenge.

Amy walked behind Tails and whispered into his ear, "Good luck, Tails." He smirked at her as she walked to the bar to have a sit down and watch him play. She ordered an apple flavored Smirnoff™ Ice to sip at as she sat.

"Good evening gentlemen," said a voice, Tails turned his head, it was the dealer. "I see there are about six of you tonight, which is the minimum for one free drink per person."

Tails smacked his hand against his forehead and looked down at the table in sheer embarrassment. He hated these little things they add to the deal to make it better. When the bartender came to him he ordered nothing. "Could I save it for later?" asked Tails, the bartender nodded and walked behind the counter to prepare the men's drinks.

"The game is five card stud, gentlemen," said the Dealer. He began to deal the cards, one to each player now two, three, four, five. The game was on and Tails had a pretty bad start, six, seven, five, three, and ten. He hadn't paid too much attention to anyone else but Le Chiffre, according to facial expressions he was doing pretty well, but that means nothing.

Tails traded in the ten and gained a new one in its place, he decided he'd rather not look so he could put no expression on his face with ease. Le Chiffre kept a good outlook on things; he put five million dollars into the pot. Tails raised it to ten million, considering his resources. Le Chiffre seemed to give him a bit of a glare, things didn't look to good for him. When everyone showed their cards, Tails flipped over his six, seven, five and three and hoped for the best. He flipped over what used to be a ten, and from the best of luck he drew out a four; three, four, five, six and seven. He won this hand with a straight. Le Chiffre showed his hand to the dealer and had nothing but a pair of fives.

Many hands later the dealer announced, "Alright gentlemen that would be enough for now. We will take a one hour long break period so you can clean up in your room, have a drink at the bar or just ease up a bit. We will meet back here at 11:00pm."

Tails gladly got up and walked over to Amy and briefly whispered something in her ear. He then pulled his head away and said, "What?"

"You've completely lost me," said Amy.

Tails once again whispered in her ear, "You just said you want to get me back to the room."

"Alright let's go."

The two decided to walk up the stairs rather then taking the elevators so they could discuss their newly formed love life. They arrived at the fourth floor this wasn't right for Amy, who said "I thought our room was on the seventh floor."

"I just need to check something out," said Tails. He pressed his ear against the door of room 402. He heard rustling and crashing and a black man screaming, "Where's my money?!".

"I promise you I will get it," Replied Le Chiffre.

"If you do not I will take her arm!" said the black man. A woman was heard, screaming as if she were being raped or mutilated.

"Please, stop it! I told you, I will have your money by the end of the tournament."

A new voice entered the conversation, possibly another African American, "You better." Tails heard footsteps approaching the door.

He quickly dashed to Amy and said, "Cover me!" The two African American men walked out of the room, quite casually for that matter and acting like nothing of interest had happened. The second man who walked out of the room had noticed Tails and Amy, exchanging tongues. He paid close attention to them as he walked by. As his viewing angle slowly changed he noticed something in Prower's ear. It looked like putty, another step clarified the view, it was an earpiece.

The man quickly turned around and pulled a pistol from his jacket; Tails saw this in the corner of his eye and quickly moved pulling Amy with him. The first man had seen him pull out his pistol, so he quickly pulled a machete from his coat and charged along with his friend. Tails pressed himself against the wall with Amy cowering by his side, the first man with the handgun charged in with his right arm raised in front of him. Before he could react to the site of Tails he grabbed the man's arm, pulled it and sent him running forward into the railing, once he had hit the railing Tails took his left foot and kicked him in the upper back sending him flying over the rail and known four flights of stairs.

The next man came in with his machete, Tails pulled out his small .22, but not in time. He smacked the pistol out of Tails' hand and sent it down the steps. Amy began to run down the flight as the two fought. He swung his machete at him and Tails dodged it barely by jumping back, his back slammed against the wall and he was elbowed in the face. The man swung another fist at Tails, but he managed to counter and grab the man's arm. He spun in a counter-clockwise motion throwing the man into the wall. Before the man could recover Tails grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him down the flight, mistakably towards Amy.

Tails began to dash towards the man as he grabbed Amy's ankle, she screamed, but managed to break free after smashing her high heels into his face. Tails dived towards him, but missed as he rolled over. They both stood up and Tails was grabbed by the collar by the man's left hand then his right hand balled into a fist and smashed it into Tails' left cheek. He managed to break free of the man's grip then grab him by the collar with both hands. He took him for a ride, now on the third floor, he threw is own body along with the man's to the other side of the stairwell, they were now on the second floor.

Amy continued running towards the first floor, when the man pushed Tails down the flight and into a glass display, shattering it and slicing up his shoulders. He was no in between the first and second floor, Amy was just about at the first. The man attempted to charge Tails and flatten him against the wall, but at the last moment the fox lifted his leg and deflected him. The man bounced back and off the railing down to the first floor where Amy was frantically trying to open the door back into the building. The fox dived off the railing onto the man then got on the floor behind him where they both laid. He wrapped his arm around the man's neck and slowly began to deprive him of much needed air.

As the man gasped for air, Tails yelled, "Amy! Get on the line! Report this to H." All Amy did was stare at the dying man as he struggled and attempted to survive. "Go! Now!" screamed Tails. Eventually she ran up the stairs to the seventh floor to do just as he had told her to.

Tails, relieved by the fact that he had killed the man next to the other who fell over the stairwell, began to stow the bodies away in a nearby broom closet. It was a metal door, so once he finished he threw sulfuric acid he found in the cleaning products there to morph the two edges together so they wouldn't find the bodies until he was done with Le Chiffre.

He looked down at his shirt and noticed it was drenched with blood, both his and the men he fought. So he decided to walk up the seven flights of stairs. Once he got into his room, number 710. He took off the white undershirt from underneath his black coat, a tuxedo in short. He replaced it with a fresh one, clean and spotless. He went to the bathroom and began chugging several glasses of tap water, one after another. Once he finished he noticed the sound of something splashing. He pulled out his .22 and walked to the other side of the rest room and pressed himself against the wall at the corner. He quickly shot his whole body out, pistol at the ready, he was ready to fire. Once he had gotten off the wall he realized he was aiming directly in between Amy's eyes.

She was sitting down in the shower, still fully dressed. The water was pouring out of the shower head onto Amy as she just sat there. Tails thought to himself, I suppose she didn't handle it as well as I thought she would. Tails had a sit down with her as she leaned her head against him. He began to stroke her hair gently as the water poured down on top of them.

About thirty minutes later it was about time to get back to the poker table. Once he had a sit down at his previous seat just like everyone else had the game once again began.

"I see you've changed your shirt Mr. Prower," said Le Chiffre, "I hope our little game isn't causing you to perspire." He said this in a slightly aggressive tone with a sort of serious look. He was beginning to catch on to Tails somehow and he knew it, his only chance now would be to play the game and get out with the money as fast as he could. The game went on long, eventually Tails and Le Chiffre had become even in terms of playing cash, and they both were down to ten million American dollars.

Tails was beginning to stress a bit so he decided to take that drink he denied two and a half hours earlier. He ordered a martini without the olive. This time it wasn't brought by the bartender who had served him earlier, this time it was a beautiful blonde. Tails stared at her as she walked away back towards the bar. Amy stared at him and shook her head in disapproval. Tails just smiled back at her.

He took a sip from the Martini and noticed something was wrong. The taste was slightly off and burned a bit more than it should have. He swallowed it anyway. Then he began to feel faint, his vision blurred and he became fatigued. He his drink then at Le Chiffre in utter shock, who was smiling at him, the first time he had made any expression other then "poker face" the whole game.

He got up and said, "Excuse me, could you postpone the game for a second." And before he received a response he staggered off. He walked through the parking lot; Amy noticed his sudden get away and finally decided to follow. Tails let himself fall into the passenger seat of his Aston Martin DBS as he became fainter and fainter. He opened up a line to HQ, "H!" he said with a slur, "I believe I've been poisoned, what should I do?"

"Prower? Prower is that you?" asked H.

"Yes, what do I do?"

"There's a red button above the Aston Martin logo, press it. A tray with a defibrillator should come out use that. We'll be monitoring your heart rate from here."

Tails pulled out the defibrillator as his muscles continued to weaken and spasm. He connected the wires to his chest just as he learned. He pressed a yellow button and it began to charge. It kept charging, it felt like a lifetime to him, literally. Still charging, he was more and more faint. Still charging… it was too late. "He's gone into cardiac arrest!" said a nurse back at HQ. It was over, everything was over. Or so H thought.

Amy came running has fast as her high heels would allow here to. She saw Tails' slumped body in the seat with his legs hanging out of the car. She ran even faster. She got to the car and looked frantically for the defibrillator. It was only a few seconds before she realized it was connected to his chest. It was already charging, Amy realized that he was already fighting for his life when she began to follow. It didn't matter, the light turned green and she pressed the "FIRE" button. A surge went through the wires and the fox's body went through one large spasm.

His eyes opened, his suit was drenched with perspiration. He panted like a dog in the summer. In shock he quickly twisted his head towards Amy who was crying over his half dead body. When Tails' conscious mind was able to render the prior events in the past minute he was able to realize that she was in shock. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and they buried their heads into each others shoulders.

They got up from their little reunion and walked back to the casino. Tails had a flame in his eye for Le Chiffre, but all he could do was play the game. When Amy had once again positioned herself back at the bar to watch, Tails had sat down at the poker table. He stared at Le Chiffre triumphantly, he was bewildered. "Please, excuse me. That last hand nearly killed me." Said Tails.

The game continued from where they left off. Le Chiffre had a worried expression upon his face, which Tails closely examined. This was for real, Le Chiffre was out of options. He went all in. The only way for Tails to match his call was to go all in as well. This was it, this was the chance to win it all and get his half revenge on Le Chiffre, the other half was to nearly kill him. The cards turned over and Tails' heart sunk to the bottom of his chest. A royal flush, Le Chiffre had a royal flush.

"Did you think I was bluffing, Mr. Prower?" asked Le Chiffre as he smirked. Tails got up and walked away from the table. He walked over to the public bar, a different one, further away from his poker table. "Gimme a shot of vodka," said Tails.

"What brand, sir?" said the bartender.

"Does it look like I give a damn?" said Tails in anger. This loss had gotten very deep into him. Knuckles was with him on this assignment as well as, another player. He still hadn't been knocked out of the tournament so APA still had a chance. Yet, ever since Sonic's death, Tails had very little patience and relieved his stress through physical means.

Knuckles was a terrible poker player, so Tails had one option left. Le Chiffre couldn't live any longer. He spotted him walking out the entrance, talking to friends, in celebration of knocking out the biggest challenge at the table. Tails quickly walked off and picked up a steak knife from a dining table on his way. He hid it behind his arm as he eyed Le Chiffre. He walked even faster and faster. Le Chiffre had just walked through the entrance. He just brushed past Knuckles, who called "Tails!".

Tails remembered how bad Amy took the two men's deaths at the stairwell he stopped at while attempting to get some info from Le Chiffre. "Get the girl out." Said Tails.

"No," said Knuckles. "Listen to me. I think you have him."

"Had," replied Tails. "Now, excuse me." He attempted to brush past him, but the Echidna stopped him in an instant.

"I don't think you're catching me," said Knuckles. Tails was now interested and he stopped trying to slip past him. "I'm bleeding chips, I only have bout 2 million left. I'll give you half so you can keep playing, there's no doubt you'll last longer than I will."

"Sounds good, where are the chips?" Asked Tails. Knuckles reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue placard, marked _Casino Royale, 1,000,000 American Dollars._ Tails reached for it and Knuckles pulled it back.

"On one condition." He chuckled.

"What's that?" replied Tails.

"You buy the shots."

Ah yes, Tails remembered. Every Saturday night the two got together at the local bar to have a couple drinks, half the time they were to drunk to realize they had cheered, "To Sonic" before each mouthful.

Tails took the chips and proceeded back to the table. Amy saw Tails and was just as surprised as Le Chiffre was to see him back at the table.

Hours passed. Knuckles had lost his last one million to Le Chiffre and Tails had won back most of his eighty million. Once again the two were even in terms of chips. Seventy-four million each. Le Chiffre's goal was One hundred ten million, which is what he needed to save himself from his clients.

Amy finally came out of her memories, that's all here memory could serve her. Now all she could do was lay there in her shackles, and wait for him. Her boyfriend. Tails.


	6. Code: Amy

**Chapter 5 - Code: Amy**

A tranquil lake, a majestic forest, a seven hundred and twenty-six foot dam, and a little white plane to complete it. It was a peaceful scene. The perfect day for anyone who was in the mood for sight-seeing, but not Miles Prower. He had just arrived at the Hoover dam. He wheeled open a chain-link gate at one end and burst out of it as fast as he could, only now he was wearing an eye patch over his right-eye, black and dark blue tactical suit and the bungee cord he had acquired slung over his shoulder.

Nothing stood in his way, physically nor mentally. He reached the center of the damn with no difficulty. In a rush he stepped up onto a platform sticking out over the edge of the dam. Tails quickly hooked the end of the bungee cord on the railing to his left, then the other end to his feet. His adrenaline flow slowed, he then slowly stepped to the edge of the platform and stared down about seven-hundred feet of pure concrete. He noticed a cement block at the bottom with a ladder going in. This was his goal.

He pulled out a grappling gun, Model H-23. Strange thing to bring while bungee jumping, but was entirely necessary to his goal. He continued to stare down, and he became dizzy. He noticed time was slowing down just for him. After staring at the seven-hundred feet of concrete he slowly let himself fall forward. Finally, his body was far out enough for his feet to lose contact with the damn. He began to free fall with the bungee cord becoming thinner and thinner behind him.

200 Feet Down. He began to feel the wind in his face, keeping it dry from anticipation. 300 Feet Down. His target became clearer and his body drew close to the damn. 500 Feet Down. His body was dangerously close to the damn he had no idea what to do. 600 Feet Down. His depth-perception was slightly off, Tails' eye patch slung over in front of his good eye. He reached for his,"GrapGun" and aimed in straight in front of him towards the cement block. He couldn't quite see with his eye patch in the way, he took a shot of faith. Nothing more than a wild guess. 650 Feet Down. The rope began to tighten, slowing down. The H-23 had hit its target and Tails was safe for the moment.

After the bungee cord had stretched to its full length and the grappling hook had buried itself in the concrete, Tails readjusted his eye patch. He eased up on the trigger of the grapgun and pulled it again. The rope retracted and slowly pulled him towards the block. Once he had gotten close enough he released the bungee cord from his feet and watched it bounce back upward towards the platform he came from. He slowly stowed away his H-23 and climbed down the ladder in front of him.

Once Tails had reached the bottom of the ladder he had lowered himself into an air duct. He adjusted his eye patch once again. The damn thing kept getting in the way. Somehow, the uncomfortable feeling of the eye patch seemed to remind him of everything. Its Mr. White's doing, everything that happened in the past few weeks was all Mr. White, and now Tails is going to work for him to get Amy back? No, this was complete bullshit. It all ran through his mind.

"No," Tails said to himself, "I'm going to get Amy back. I'm not going to work for that asshole." It was decided, he was going to break in and take Amy back, no distractions, no side missions. Just straight to Amy. With this all going into his mind he decided lethal force was completely necessary. "Screw the APA." He thought to himself. Tails didn't care what they thought of him, using force off duty.

He pulled out his .22 and fixed a large suppressor on it. He began his journey through the air duct searching for openings. To the fox's surprise there were few vents he could venture through. Finally towards the end of the duct he found an opening. It was covered with a mesh, which he violently ripped out. That was a mistake.

"What was that?" said an anonymous voice. Tails peered through the vent; he was overlooking the men's restroom, over a stall with a guard in it reading a newspaper. The man on the toilet decided the noise was nothing and continued on with his business, and his paper. The guard, wearing nothing but a black sweater, black Levis, and black boots, was beginning to finish what he had started. He lowered the paper and saw a fox dangling upside down by his boots. The man stared in amazement.

Tails stared at the man for a second then said, "I'm so sorry. I should of knocked first." He let out his fist full force into the man's cheek, rendering him unconscious. Prower released himself from the vent and swiftly pulled a vertical 180 to land it. He opened the stall door with caution. Weapon at the ready, he checked his surroundings, all clear. He moved out, exited the restroom and proceeded down a flight of stairs to the floor below. He still had no idea where Amy was being held. This was going to be a long day, assuming he wasn't caught before it happened.

He entered the storage room; he knew he could use it to access the other side of the building. Suddenly a figure burst out from the shadows, and a .22, equipped with a silencer was aimed in between his eyes, point: blank. Tails' firearm was at his side, he couldn't do a thing.

"Where are you from?" the figure said. Tails remained silent. "Who are you with?"

Tails had no idea what kind of answer the guy wanted, "I'm alone." He heard himself say. The figure slowly put his weapon down. Tails was tempted to raise his weapon up and kill the man, but he had a gut feeling that would be a horrible mistake.

The figure stepped out from the shadows. The light revealed his face, a red hedgehog with yellow tipped spikes. On his head was a headset, including a microphone, an earpiece and a transparent green computer screen over his right eye. He was wearing a tactical suit, just like Tails'. Once the light had shown him he said, "Aren't we all?"

"Target!" said Tails. It was Sonic's brother. He was the one who taught Tails how to fire a weapon. Tails and Target met at Sonic's funeral, they have been best friends ever since.

"You're late." said Target. Tails was confused.

"You were expecting me?" asked Tails.

"Of course." Answered Target

"Do you know abo-"

"Everything," Said Target confidently. "And before you ask, the APA isn't on to you, yet, but they're beginning to suspect something from you.

"How?"

Target began to lower his head, and closing his eyes he said, "You switched to channel four."

"I thought that line was secure!" said Tails in surprise. He closed his eye and banged his gloved fist on the wall.

"You were wrong. The APA doesn't know if you're working undercover on your own or working with him." Target paused, "Anyway, what happened to your eye?" He tapped Tails' eye patch.

"If you're that well connected you should know, didn't you read my health records?" asked Tails.

"I didn't think that would be too important," Target paused, "Was it that car crash? You ruined an Aston Martin?"

"I'll tell you later. Do you know where Amy is?"

"Not a clue, I checked the cell blocks to save you the trouble." Responded Target, "I think we should get started checking the area, they're about to exchange guards, so now would be the best time."

Tails looked at Target and placed his hand on his shoulder "Alright, let's go." He gave a friendly smile at Target and brushed passed him. Target watched Tails as he passed by and began to follow. They stepped out of the storage room, Tails leading the way. Target grabbed him.

"Maybe I should lead," said Target, "I know the area better, and I can't let your emotions ruin your judgment." He watched the one eyed fox as his face grew tighter. Tails stared at the ground for a moment with his eyes closed. Target analyzed his actions.

After an intense moment of thinking Tails looked up at Target, and said "Ok, you take the point." Target smiled, "You still got it in you, buddy."

Target took the point as Tails followed. Tails stopped for a moment and felt some awkward pressure in his right eye, or what was left of it anyway. Target stopped as well to check on his friend. "You feelin' alright?" he asked. Tails forged a smile at him. "Tails?" Tails began feeling light headed he began clumsily stumbling around. "Tails!" he heard Target yelling for him.

Prower hit the ground hard. He was unconscious. Target rushed over to him and pulled a shot of adrenaline from his pouch. He balled his fist around it and forced it through Tails' chest. He pushed hard on the needle and injected every last milligram of the liquid into the fox's stiff heart.

He came to. "What happened?" he said.

"You passed out," replied Target, "Your bad eye must be releasing toxins into your bloodstream. It needs to be taken out."

"Later, I need to find Amy." Tails tried his hardest to push past Target, he stopped him by grabbing his arm. Tails just stood there for a moment sulking, absorbed in his own selfish thoughts. In an instant he snapped out of his own regrets and memories and snapped out of Target's grasp, he quickly swung his fist towards Target who quickly countered. He grabbed the fox's arm and twisted it behind him.

While Tails was struggling, Target began, "Look at you! Don't you realize how much you've changed? Fighting your own friends? Not even listening to a single thought from others!" He released his grip of Tails "If we don't get that thing out of your skull you're going to be dead before we even find her!"

Tails, being as different as he was from that traumatic day six weeks ago acted swiftly. "Fine, have it your way." Target frowned at this, knowing the stress Prower was under he realized he would do something drastic. Tails holstered his weapon slowly. He took a deep breath and removed his eye patch. Standing in the middle of the long hallway he stuck his fingers in his right eye. Target put his gloved hand over his own mouth and widened his eyes at the site. The fox screamed loud. He twisted and jerked at it, tears fell quickly from his left eye. Eventually the tissues of the optical nerve snapped and the mush that was his right eye flew out and hit the floor.

"Damn it, Tails!" Target yelled, "You've got to be smarter than that!" Target was right; a sentry who heard the commotion opened the door behind them. Gasping for breath, the fox placed his eye patch back over his eye. He unholstered the weapon. "Please don't tell me you forgot to silence that thing!" Tails fired to rounds into the man's chest. The sound of the unsilenced weapon echoed down the hallway.

"Oops…" said Tails in dismay. A couple of sentries burst through sliding doors just about 70 feet away from the two to the right of the hallway.

"Move!" screamed Target. Tails ducked and the hedgehog unholstered his still silenced weapon and fired one round. The single round went through one of the sentries foreheads and continued through to the soldier behind him. Target unsilenced his weapon. One more sentry came from behind and grabbed Tails. Prower elbowed the man in the stomach and used his arm against him. He used the soldier's arm as leverage to throw him over his shoulder, which he succeeded in. Tails wasn't normally the killing type, but he was stricken with anger. He took his own foot and smashed the man's throat with it.

The two charged down the hallway. "Fuck! I screwed it all up!" Tails was punishing himself in the inside. He was just about ready to give up.

After finding a corner to take cover behind from the enemy barrage, Target said, "Don't worry we got some of the best back-up we could for." The hedgehog pulled switched on his headset and yelled, "Now!" The wall just behind the green suited enemy soldiers exploded. One of them was killed instantly. Out of the smoke and dust was a figure with very large fists and multiple dreadlocks extending from what looked like the head.

Whoever or whatever it was came charging through the barrage. One of the confused uniforms turned in shock and focused his weapon on the figure. A fist flew out of the haze causing the front half of his M-83-B to disappear then fall to the floor. Target was swift with his weapon and shot the final soldier in the center of the chest.

The dust from the explosion began to settle. The one who had saved their lives just stood there with a cocky smile. That one was an echidna. "Hey there red, good to see ya." said Target. It was Knuckles.

"Sorry I couldn't get here earlier," he responded, "I must've gotten lost in the sewers." Tails noticed something different about Knuckles' behavior. It had gotten less cheery, almost as if he was forcing the expected sarcasm. He didn't feel like asking, but it seemed almost necessary.

"Hey Knux," Tails began, "You don't look too good." He waited for an answer, and it came delayed.

"Tails," Knuckles began almost apologetically, "Julie-Su was murdered six and a half weeks ago, around the same time you had your accident. That's why I never visited you in the hospital."

"Wait a minute," Target interrupted. His face mashed together, there was something going on in his head, "did you just say 'around the time Tails had his accident'?" The red echidna slowly looked up at him.

"Yea, why?" he responded.

"That's about the time I found that kid snooping around in my bushes, taking pictures. I had to get rid of him the redneck way."

"Redneck way?" Tails asked, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Had to brandish a shotgun on him," Target said, he then continued and relieved the muscles in his face, "There's something going on here."


End file.
